


Demarcation

by ConsequentialGamer



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, No Dialogue, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 15:05:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10363170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConsequentialGamer/pseuds/ConsequentialGamer
Summary: No one would dare tell Jack Morrison he wasn’t worthy of leadership, except himself.





	

No one would dare tell Jack Morrison he wasn’t worthy of leadership. In the light, he exuded strength. He barked orders with all the confidence of a man with the world at his feet, which was exactly the man he was. Old soldiers respected him and new recruits wanted to be him. Everyone at the base would gather around whatever holo projector they could find when he had his television appearances. And on the days when their Strike Commander was around, gracing the training grounds and mess halls with his presence, the recruits would give anything to speak to him.

No one would dare tell Jack Morrison he wasn’t worthy of leadership, except himself.

In the dark, alone in his quarters, he’d fall apart night after night. The stress, the doubt, the fear; it would all weigh on him until he broke. Never quite shattered, because he could always be put back together by someone else. Dark and heavy arms that cradled his body, gentle thumbs to wipe away the tears. Gabe hated it for Jack. He wanted more than anything to witness again the way his eyes lit up when he spoke, how they crinkled at the edges when he laughed. He was so young and he already had deep lines around his eyes from how much he smiled. It scared Gabe to see them replaced with the wrinkles of stress.

Jack came home to him every night, searching for the one man that could make him feel worthy. Gabe would help him relax, would soothe out the lines on his torso from the too-tight binder that Jack insisted on wearing, lest someone find out how his body betrayed him. It was more weight piled onto Jack’s shoulders that cracked him more everyday. Angela had always offered help, but no surgery would go unnoticed by the SEP. And as much as it hurt Gabe to see the way he struggled, he knew it would be so much worse should the secret be revealed.

So all Gabe could do was hold him. In the darkness, Jack would cry. He’d break apart and think that this would be the night that did him in. But Gabe was always there. He gathered the pieces and put them back together, hoping that one day he could be strong enough to keep Jack from falling apart ever again.

Come morning, Jack would pull himself out of bed and don the blue uniform he had once longed for. Everyday, the fabric felt heavier. Everyday, he would leave before Gabe could ask him to stay.

And he would continue to be the leader everyone expected him to be.


End file.
